Book Review THE E-MYTH REVISITED by MICHAEL GERBER
The
book that we're reviewing today is "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael
Gerber. And the subtitle of the book is, "Why Most Small Businesses Don't
Work "And What to Do about It." Who should read this book? I think it
should be compulsory reading for anyone that's thinking about starting their
own company or any entrepreneur or business owner that has started their
company and is struggling, who has got a little bit of a way but the business
is dependent on them.
It's
an excellent book to read if you're in any of those situations. I really think
it should be mandatory. Why do I think it should be mandatory? And that's
because it exposes the myth, the entrepreneurial myth that people that start a
business because they are technically good at something, will be good at
running the business that contains the technical bit. Now Michael Gerber says
that's rubbish. There are a few people in this world who start a business 'cause
they're technically good at something and at the same time have that entrepreneurial
ability to manage a business, to run it, to grow it and that sort of thing
beyond just their technical capability that they have. He talks us through the
different stages that a business goes through from when in infancy, when the
entrepreneur, the person who started the business is the business, you can't
separate the two, down to becoming more like an adolescent and teenager and the
normal challenges that one experiences as you grow a business, the identity of
the business etcetera. All this in the book is illustrated by virtue, well I
shouldn't say by virtue, through a story of a lady Sarah, who runs a pie-making
shop, a bakery. And who comes across this business coach who then talks with
her and guides her through the process of separating herself from her
pie-making shop, the business. So, Michael Gerber says that there are three
personas within everyone and that's the technical person, the person inevitably
is the reason the person started the business, the managing side the person, as
well as the entrepreneur and that these three have different aims and fight
against each other, battle against each other. Some of the things that Michael
advocates that you should be doing in order to build a business that can work
without you, is to start with the end in mind.
To
start the beginning and say, when will your business be finished? What will it
look like at the end? To paint a picture of that he talks about putting
organogram in of how your business will be when it's finished and he talks you
through that. He suggests that you consider your business, as the first
prototype of a potential franchise and that's a great idea to think of how to
start a business. Why is it a good idea? As Michael points out, you will then
build systems in your business, you won't make your business dependent on you or
on key people because you'll be putting systems in place. So Michael goes into
quite a lot of detail about systems, how do you put systems in place, what sort
of systems? He goes into quite a lot of detail about the end goal, the vision
that you have, the why that your businesses is there. He talks about the fact
that your business is not your life and that your business needs to support
your life goals. He also talks more about working on your business and not in
your business and also talks about having the customer at the center of
whatever you do. So, in short, that's what the book is about, it's an easy to
read book, it's an excellent book. I think the major benefit of the book is that
for anyone who's a business owner it'll challenge how you think about yourself and
how you think about your business. For me one of the best quotes from the book
is as follows: "Don't you see? "If your business depends on you, you
don't own a business, "you have a job." As Brad Sugars says,
"Where you'll be in five years time, "will depend on the books you've
read, "the people you associate with and the actions you take." So
let's talk about how we can take action to implement the learnings from this
book. How easy is it to put into action? Well, some of that's gonna depend on where
you are in your journey as an entrepreneur and business owner.
If
your business is not solely dependent on you, then there's certainly learnings
that you can take from this and put into action quite quickly. Perhaps it's
something about recruitment that you can pick up and put into place
straightaway. Well maybe there's an aspect of systems that you haven't quite
mastered that you need to put into place. So there will be discrete bits that
you'll be able to put into place. If you're early along your journey or perhaps
you have had a business for a while but it's still completely dependent on you,
hopefully this book has changed your mindset about how you see yourself in
relation to your business. And then it's a journey, it's gonna be a journey of
a while, to get yourself to a position where the business, is running without
you. You can follow the advice in this book start off with thinking about your
business as a prototype of a franchise and run all your decision-making through
that. I would recommend however, that you get some help with this process if
you're at that point.
There
are quite a few good business coaches around, there's about a thousand Action
Coaches around the world, if you need to get in touch with an Action COACH near
you, give me a shout and I'll put you in touch with someone there. A business
coach will help guide you through the process and get you to the point of the
business running without you quicker, than if you're try and do it yourself. So
folks that's it for today, "The E-Myth Revisited", definitely a
recommended book to read if you're a business owner, if you're thinking of
starting a business.
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